A week's worth of strangeness!

I don't think I have had many weeks that have been as exhausting as the past one. The reason that it was so tiring was that so many things happened in such a short space of time (five days is actually really short). Starting on monday, when I recieved a gift of three t-shirts from a friend who had come back from England. In what seems to be true lab tradition, I had to model my new items of clothing for my lab mates, as well as the friend who had wanted to see if the clothes fittted. Things escalated when I was told that I needed to do a "proper" catwalk type thing, complete with music... So I did the first t-shirt, failed miserably at the modelling thing (I was laughing too hard), and then... dum dum dum dum... My supervisor arrived to see what all the laughing was about! I changed into the next t-shirt, did the walk thing (to music again), didnt fail quite so miserably, but the funny thing this time was that my supervisor did a funny little jig thing (on camera as I walked passed - I dont think he realised I was being recorded). Now my supervisor isn't really that type of person, so when I saw the video, I cracked up laughing, as did everyone else who knows my supervisor. End Monday.

Tuesday saw me getting a whole lot of make-up put on by Helen. I'm not usually a person who goes to a lot of effort with my appearance, and generally go to university in jeans and a baggy t-shirt. I had promised my friend who had brought me the t-shirts on Monday (two of them were substantially more feminine than those I normally wear), that I would wear at at least one of the nice ones a week, and had thus decided that I would wear one on Tuesday. And Helen was going to put make-up on me. I was quite scared about this whole thing! It turned out really well, although it took me a while to get used to it. I kept getting a fright when I looked in the mirror in the bathroom - a classic "who on earth is that?" type response. In the middle of the day, the t-shirt friend (who had gone to quite a bit of effort to get me the shirts - roped in family members and all) came by with a camera, because he wanted to show members of his family back in the UK the results of their efforts. So I had a "photoshoot". Right, now that is three things in one week that I would not normally do! Modelling, getting make-up put on me, and getting pictures taken of me! All in two days!

I went to the zoo on Wednesday morning, and had quite a bit of time to kill between checking on my groups. So I wandered around, and saw the Bat-eared foxes basking... I have never fully appreciated exactly how cute these animals are, and I'm very sad to say that I didnt have my camera with me... So no photos. But the bundles of fluff are so adorable, with their massive ears and tiny faces, and the way that a flick of an ear seems to move the entire head... another "aaaah, thats so cute!" moment for me. Then later on, I was chatting to Doug online, who told me that I was going to be able to go on a hike (beat this) in the Kruger park!!!!!!! I ran to my supervisor's office and told him my news, all the while bouncing up and down (I think he was a little stunned at my antics), then went back to my lab, where Vanessa saw me bouncing up and down in my chair (a little difficult to do, but I still managed). Everyone else who saw me must think that I have really gone nuts now....

On thursday, I didn't have a car, so had to get a lift into varsity with my mom. Which was wierd, because I hadn't had to get dropped off at university since about second year! I managed to do a bit of work before lunch. Then I met a friend who I had been very nasty to (all becasue I had read a situation wrongly) for lunch. I felt so bad. So I apologised to him, and luckily, our friendship has not suffered too badly from my mistake - we were able to have just as cool a conversation as we would normally, except for the fact that I was feeling awful about how nasty I had been... Then, I went to the underwater club evening, to meet a friend who I hadn't seen in a while. While I was there, someone passed a comment which may seem innocuous, but which made my blood boil all the same. They said something along the lines of "Oh, here comes the girl-boy, with her pretty friend", and the only person they could have been referring to was me... Admittedly, I was wearing old jeans, a baggy t-shirt and hiking boots, but still, I had put a small amount of make-up on (another first for me). My anger tends to be slow in getting going, but by the time I got fetched (and almost finished my proposal), I was seething. End Thursday

Friday arrived, and I was still angry, and determined to prove them wrong. Even if they didn't see me that day. So I got up, dressed in jeans (yes, but they were better and slightly more feminine), and a soft yellow jersey. And put on make-up. All because I now have a point to prove. So next week, I will get my hair cut, and get some more feminine clothes, and make myself look pretty. Grrr. Friday was also wierd, because a friend of mine told me about her bad news, and after that, all I wanted to do was cry for her!!! That amount of empathy rarely happens to me, and it put me in a bleak mood for the rest of the day. Then the last thing that made this week stand out, was that I finished my proposal!!!

I hope I don't have too many more weeks that are as eventful as this one, because I am absolutely exhausted today!